A Light in a Darkened World
by wesman11
Summary: Harry disappears during the fight with Voldemort in the Graveyard. Everyone thinks one of two things: that he is dead, or that he has been captured by the Dark Lord. Better summary inside.


**Disclaimer: ** I do not own anything. It all belongs to the amazing J.K. Rowling.

**Summary: **Harry disappears during the fight with Voldemort in the Graveyard. Everyone thinks one of two things: that he is dead, or that he has been captured by the Dark Lord. But when a mysterious figure enters Hogwarts, some 14 months later, saying he knows what happened that night, of what happened to Harry Potter. Will the wizarding world be thrown into chaos or will it be saved?

**A/N: ** Most of the prologue contains segments of the graveyard scene near the end of the fourth book. All segments were written by Rowling, not me.

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**Prologue Part One: The Escape**

_June 24, 1995, Little Hangleton Cemetery_

_(Following insert from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Ch. 32, pg. 638)_

"_Kill the spare."_

_A swishing noise and a second voice, which screeched the words to the night: "_Avada Kedavra!_"_

_A blast of green light blazed through Harry's eyelids, and he heard something heavy fall to the ground beside him; the pain in his scar reached such a pitch that he retched, and then it diminished; terrified of what he was about to see he opened his stinging eyes._

_Cedric was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside him. He was dead._

_(End insert)_

_(Following inserts from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Ch. 34, pg. 659-669)_

"_You have been taught how to duel, Harry Potter?" said Voldemort softly, his red eyes glinting through the darkness._

"_We bow to each other, Harry," said Voldemort, bending a little, but keeping his snakelike face upturned to Harry. "Come, the niceties must be observed...Dumbledore would like you to show manners...Bow to death, Harry..."_

"_I said, _bow_," Voldemort said, raising his wand – and Harry felt his spine curve as though a huge, invisible hand were bending him ruthlessly forward, and the Death Eaters laughed harder than ever._

"_Very good," said Voldemort softly, and as he raised his wand the pressure bearing down upon Harry lifted too. "And now you face me, like a man...straight-backed and proud, the way your father died..."_

"_And now – we duel."_

_Voldemort raised his wand, but this time Harry was ready; with the reflexes born of his Quidditch training, he flung himself sideways onto the ground; he rolled behind the marble headstone of Voldemort's father, and he heard it crack as the curse missed him._

"_We are not playing hide-and-seek, Harry," said Voldemort's soft cold voice, drawing nearer, as the Death Eaters laughed. "You cannot hide from me. Does this mean you are tired of our duel? Does this mean that you would prefer me to finish it now, Harry? Come out, Harry...come out and play, then...it will be quick...it might even be painless...I would not know...I have never died...."_

_Before Voldemort could stick his snakelike face around the headstone, Harry stood up...he gripped his wand tightly in his hand, thrust it out in front of him, and threw himself around the headstone, facing Voldemort._

_Voldemort stood ready. As Harry shouted, "_Expelliarmus!_" Voldemort cried, "_Avada Kedavra!_"_

_And then – nothing could have prepared Harry for this – he felt his feet lift from the ground. He and Voldemort were both being raised into the air, their wands still connected by that thread of shimmering golden light. They glided away from the tombstone of Voldemort's father and then came to rest on a patch of ground that was clear and free of graves...The Death Eaters were shouting; they were asking Voldemort for instructions; they were closing in, reforming the circle around Harry and Voldemort, the snake slithering at their heels, some of them drawing their wands – _

_The golden thread connecting Harry and Voldemort splintered; though the wands remained connected, a thousand more beams arced high over Harry and Voldemort, crisscrossing all around them, until they were enclosed in a golden, dome-shaped web, a cage of light, beyond which the Death Eaters circled like jackals, their cries strangely muffled now..._

"_Do nothing!" Voldemort shrieked to the Death Eaters, and Harry saw his red eyes wide with astonishment at what was happening, saw him fighting to break the thread of light still connecting his wand with Harry's; Harry held onto his wand more tightly, with both hands, and the golden thread remained unbroken. "Do nothing unless I command you!" Voldemort shouted to the Death Eaters._

_And then an unearthly and beautiful sound filled the air...It was coming from every thread of the light-spun web vibrating around Harry and Voldemort. It was a sound Harry recognized, though he had heard it only once before in his life: phoenix song._

Don't break the connection.

_I know, Harry told the music, I know I mustn't...but no sooner had he thought it, than the thing became much harder to do. His wand began to vibrate more powerfully than ever...and now the beam between him and Voldemort changed too...it was as though large beads of light were sliding up and down the thread connecting the wands – Harry felt his wand give a shudder under his hand as the light beads began to slide slowly and steadily his way...The direction of the beam's movement was now toward him, from Voldemort, and he felt his wand shudder angrily..._

_He concentrated every last particle of his mind upon forcing the head back toward Voldemort, his ears full of phoenix song, his eyes furious, fixed...and slowly, very slowly, the beads quivered to a halt, and then just as slowly, they began to move the other way...and it was Voldemort's wand that was vibrating extra-hard now...Voldemort who looked astonished, and almost fearful..._

"_Hold on, Harry," the ethereal body of Cedric Diggory said._

"_He was a real wizard, then?" the old man said, his eyes on Voldemort. "Killed me, that one did...You fight him, boy..."_

_The shadow of Bertha Jorkins surveyed the battle before her with wide eyes._

"_Don't let go, now!" she cried, and her voice echoed like Cedric's as though from very far away. "Don't let him get you, Harry – don't let go!"_

_The smoky shadow of a young woman with long hair fell to the ground as Bertha had done, straightened up, and looked at him...and Harry, his arms shaking madly now, looked back into the ghostly face of his mother._

"_Your father's coming..." she said quietly. "Hold on for your father...it will be all right...hold on..."_

_And he came, tall and untidy-haired like Harry, the smoky, shadowy form of James Potter blossomed from the end of Voldemort's wand, fell to the ground and straightened like his wife. He walked close to Harry, looking down at him, and he spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear..._

"_When the connection is broken, we will linger for only moments...but we will give you time...you must get to the Portkey, it will return you to Hogwarts...do you understand, Harry?"_

"_Yes," Harry gasped, fighting now to keep a hold on his wand, which was slipping and sliding beneath is fingers._

"_Harry..." whispered the figure of Cedric, "take my body back, will you? Take my body back to my parents...."_

"_I will," said Harry, his face screwed up with the effort of holding the wand._

"_Do it now," whispered his father's voice, "be ready to run...do it now..."_

"_NOW!" Harry yelled; he pulled his wand upward with an almighty wrench, and the golden thread broke; the cage of light vanished, the phoenix song died – but the shadowy figures of Voldemort's victims did not disappear – they were closing in upon Voldemort, shielding Harry from his gaze –_

"_Stun him!" he heard Voldemort scream._

_Ten feet from Cedric, Harry dived behind a marble angel to avoid the jets of red light and saw the tip of its wing shatter as the spells hit it. Gripping his wand more tightly, he dashed out from behind the angel –_

"Impedimenta!_" he bellowed, pointing his wand wildly over his shoulder at the Death Eaters running at him._

_From a muffled yell, he thought he had stopped at least one of them, but there was no time to stop and look; he jumped over the cup and dived as he heard more wand blasts behind him; stretching out his hand to grab Cedric's arm –_

"_Stand aside! I will kill him! He is mine!" shrieked Voldemort._

_Harry's hand had closed on Cedric's wrist; one tombstone stood between him and Voldemort, but Cedric was too heavy to carry, and the cup was out of reach –_

_Voldemort's red eyes flamed in the darkness. Harry saw his mouth curl into a smile, saw him raise his wand._

"Accio!_" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at the Triwizard Cup._

_(end inserts)_

The cup flew through the air, coming closer to him as Voldemort fired a spell in his direction. The spell was moving faster than the cup, and would hit him before the cup would reach him and Cedric's dead body. At the last possible second he rolled away from Cedric and as the spell struck the area where he had been just milliseconds before.

The cup kept coming towards him, but stopped as it struck Cedric's dead body, transporting his dead body back to Hogwarts, leaving Harry alone, with no means of escaping Voldemort and his Death Eaters. He heard the cold voice of Voldemort shriek with laughter as he too noticed that the cup had hit Cedric and sent the dead Triwizard champion back to Dumbledore and the rest of Hogwarts.

"This is the moment I have been waiting for, Harry Potter, I have waited in the shadows for 13 years hoping I would be the one to finish you once and for all." Voldemort's voice was cold and full of mirth, as he and the Death Eaters rejoiced at their soon to be victory.

Harry stood shakily to his feet, tears streaming down his face as he realized he would die alone, in a graveyard of Voldemort's father. The only good thing he saw with his upcoming death was that he would finally be with his mother and father, and he would be able to get to know them. But he didn't want to die without giving up a fight, and he would not allow Voldemort to cause him to fear death, no, he would not fear dying. His only fear was what may happen to his friends, the Weasleys, Hermione, his teachers at Hogwarts, Remus, and most importantly, Sirius. He hoped that they would continue to live without him and fight against Voldemort in the upcoming war that was bound to occur now that the Dark Lord had returned to a body.

He looked up into the crowd of Death Eaters and located the red eyes of the Dark Lord, who was staring at him, his face full of laughter and joy at finally having his worst enemy at his fingertips. Though he noticed that Potter was standing tall, whenever others would cower and beg for Voldemort to not kill them and let them join his Death Eaters.

"Shall we continue with our duel, Harry?" Voldemort's cold voice said softly. Harry raised his wand and pointed it at Voldemort, who did the same in return. "Time to face Death, Harry Potter."

"_Crucio!_" Voldemort shrieked. Harry attempted to dodge the red bolt of light that was headed his way, but his bad ankle would not allow him to move properly out of the way, and was struck by the Unforgivable in the chest. The pain surged once more, nearly causing him to slip into unconsciousness. He fought the urge to retch and tried to stay conscious. Voldemort held the curse for about a minute before he lifted the curse from Harry.

Harry laid on the ground gasping for air, as he felt Voldemort start to close in the distance that had been created between them after they had broken the connection their two wands had held earlier. He closed his eyes as he heard the footsteps of Voldemort getting closer to where he lay on the ground. Harry found himself praying to God silently to take him away, anywhere but here, he just wished he could get away from this place. Away from Voldemort and his Death Eaters, he just wished he could be with those that loved him, those who saw him for who he truly was, not The Boy-Who-Lived, but just Harry.

He heard Voldemort's footsteps cease and he opened one eye to see how close the Dark Lord was to him. Lord Voldemort was only a few feet away from Harry, and he a feeling of dread swept through his already shaking body. His body still felt as if it was on fire, the after-effects of the Cruciatus Curse wracked through his nerves and his ankle felt as if it were more than just broken.

"Now it is time for the end of you, Harry Potter," Lord Voldemort said quietly, while the Death Eaters behind him seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for the end to come.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" Voldemort's voice screeched through the air. The Killing Curse seemed to come towards Harry in slow motion, and he saw his life flashing before his eyes. His first ten years at the Dursley's seemed to pass like a blur, then it got more defined, showing him his past four years of Hogwarts. He saw the adventures that he, Ron, and Hermione had gotten into. His first year was the Philosopher's Stone and Norbert, as well as defeating Voldemort for the second time. His second year, he inwardly shuddered, as his mind flashed through his memories of Ginny's lifeless body on the cold floor of the Chamber. He saw himself pierce the mouth of the Basilisk with the sword of Gryffindor, and saw Fawkes heal him after he had pulled the fang from his arm. He remembered walking back through the halls of Hogwarts with Ron walking in front of him and Ginny. Ginny had grabbed his hand, forgetting everything about her embarrassment she had when she was around Harry. The thought of her soft hand holding onto his own made his heart flutter a little.

His third year had been full of suspecting that Sirius Black, who he learned was his Godfather, had escaped Azkaban in order to kill Harry. But in truth, Sirius was attempting to kill his former friend, Peter Pettigrew, who was truly responsible for the death of James and Lily Potter. Then this year, his fourth year at Hogwarts had been full of near death experiences. With him being the Fourth Champion being chosen from the Cup, having to face a Dragon with only a broom, facing the depths of the Black Lake to rescue Ron, and finally racing through a maze filled with dangerous traps and creatures, then finally being transported to a graveyard that held Voldemort's father.

His life finally caught up to the present as he saw the green jet of light come even closer. The light was just two feet away, when a sudden flash of fire appeared in front of Harry. It took just a second to realize what was happening, and as he saw the bird swallow the light, and explode into a flame of light, he recognized that it was Fawkes that had appeared to save him. But now that Fawkes was now on the ground, a pile of ashes lay on the ground with a baby phoenix resting among them. Before there was yet another flash of fire, and the baby phoenix disappeared.

Harry looked up to see Voldemort's face, which was set in what looked like a mix of fear and of anger. He leveled his wand at Harry once more and shouted the Killing Curse for the fourth time that night at Harry. This time, Harry was sure death would sweep him away, and he prayed one last time for help, for anything, anyone to save him. He felt himself slipping into darkness, as though he would die before the curse struck him. His head was pounding through his scar terribly and his ankle was broken. But just as he felt himself lose consciousness he saw a flash of bright white light directly in front of him, he felt the thing grab hold of the sleeve of his robe and with a second flash of white, Harry and the being disappeared from Little Hangleton, and from Lord Voldemort. The jet of green light struck the ground where Harry had been a second later, and Voldemort's cries of hatred could be heard throughout the small town of Little Hangleton.

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**Prologue Part Two: The Aftermath**

_June 24, 1995, Hogwarts Grounds_

The crowd in the stands awaiting the four champions was beginning to become restless. It had been over two hours since Harry Potter, Cedric Diggory, Victor Krum, and Fleur Delacour had entered the maze. Since then, both Victor and Fleur had been rescued from the maze, Fleur who had apparently been attacked by Krum who had been Imperiused by an unknown party, though Albus Dumbledore had an idea who it was.

His good friend, Alastor Moody, had been acting strange all year, and today was no different. It seemed he was anxious about something. Something that Dumbledore knew that Alastor never was these days. Yes, Alastor could be jumpy but this was a bit of an understatement, it seemed like the old auror was waiting for something.

He had a feeling that this Alastor was not the real one, but could not think of who it could be Polyjuicing the old auror. He had already told Severus of his thoughts, and the Potions Master agreed with him, stating that he had been missing certain ingredients from his personal storage closet of some of the items that were used in making a Polyjuice potion. Severus was standing next to him, currently in the circular area where the bleachers connected with the maze hedging. He had a potion that would cancel out the affects of any potion, in this case, the Polyjuice. They just had to wait for Harry and Cedric to return from the maze for him to make his move on the fake Moody.

His wish was granted when they heard and felt the sudden displacement of air and saw Cedric's body fall to the ground, the cup falling away from his body. His happiness suddenly changed as he saw how pale the boy was and he knew that there was no one else in the maze, at least that is what the guards were saying. He spoke quickly with Snape, telling him to capture the fake Moody and take him to his office and that he would be there shortly.

He approached the body just as his Deputy Headmistress had reached the boy and knelt down to check out his injuries, he was not prepared from the sudden scream from McGonagall that reached his ears, as she called for him. When he finally kneeled down by the Hufflepuff, he realized that the boy was dead, killed by the Killing Curse. He realized the problem straight off and ran off after Severus, who had noticed the fake Moody start to move towards the castle. Before he did though, he left instructions with Minerva to get Cedric's body inside and away from the field.

Dumbledore caught up with Snape, who had apparently stunned the fake Moody from behind, was levitating the body up towards his office. Dumbledore took the phial out of his pocket as they entered the office and Snape dumped the mystery man to the floor with a thud. Without a thought, Dumbledore opened the mouth of the man and emptied the phial into his mouth and he and Snape watched in some kind of shocked surprise as Alastor Moody turned into Barty Crouch Jr. A man who had been long thought dead by the Ministry.

He leveled his wand at Crouch and sent the spell "Enervate" at him. The spell hit the man in the chest, which caused Barty to hack suddenly as he caught a sudden breath and looked up to see both Snape's and Dumbledore's wands pointed at him. Any sane man would have been afraid of the two most powerful wizards in Britain. But of course, Barty Crouch Jr. was not sane, after so many years in Azkaban. So, he laughed instead, laughed in the face of the people who had captured him. For he knew that his Dark Lord's plan had worked, that the Potter brat was dead, and that his Dark Lord would rule over all.

Of course, what he really did not know, nor anyone except for Lord Voldemort, was that Harry Potter had escaped the Dark Lord for the fourth time. Dumbledore had sent Snape off to get the Veritaserum so that they could question Crouch about the happenings of tonight. They had stunned him again to keep him quiet as Snape flooed to his office to get the potion. And it left Dumbledore with time to think.

He knew now, that with only Cedric returning that the Cup had to have been changed into a portkey and sent Harry and Cedric to some remote location, but for what reason. He was hoping to get that question answered soon. But what he did not know was, where was Harry? Why had he not returned with Cedric? Could it be that Tom Riddle had regained his body tonight, like he had been dreading would happen one day? But the main question was, where was Harry Potter? With that thought, he went to a small desk that held a few silver trinkets. Though no one knew of their use, except for Dumbledore, one was extremely important to the Headmaster. The one in the middle of the desk was a tracking device, that tracked people that the Headmaster would put a spell on. He went to that trinket and said a spell that ejected a piece of paper that would hold information of Harry's location, at least he hoped. Though, he was shocked when the paper finally expelled from the device and landed in his outstretched hand. It read:

_Name: Harry Potter_

_Status: Unknown_

_Location: Unknown _

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**A/N: **﻿This is the opening of my newest fic. It is something that I have been wanting to get down and have thus delayed updating my other story, "Never Gonna Be Alone". Hopefully that will be updated soon, although it might still be another month away before I get time to write, with school going on. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the Prologue and hopefully the next update for this story and my others will be up sooner than later. Don't forget to R&R. Thanks!


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